Friday of the
Third Week of Lent
(Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34)
Jesus’ first commandment sounds daunting. We might ask whether we could love anyone
else if we direct all our affection toward God.
Even more discouraging, it may further seem that only the strictest of
contemplatives can fulfill this mandate.
The rest of us – priests in ministry as well as laity in the world –
will have to be judged as falling short.
But these kinds of conclusions are based on the premise
that love is a material quantity that gets used up over time. To the contrary, love is a spiritual entity
that is multiplied by use. When we
attempt to love God, we develop greater not lesser affection for God’s
creation. It is true that sometimes
desire for created goods conflicts with God’s will and must be rejected. But pursuing the desire would actually be
loving the created good more than the Creator.
